Bottom line

It’s awful enough how drippingly racist Augusta firefighter Andre Lacey’s “tweet” was. He accused an 11-year-old Hispanic-American mariachi singer of “lookin like an illegal immigrant” when the young San Antonio native belted out the national anthem at Tuesday’s NBA finals game.

But Lacey’s spectacularly offensive remark – he had lots of creepy company – is also yet another example of how people armed with electronic devices can do inestimable harm to themselves and others with their bounteous ignorance and hatred.

We’ve seen this boy interviewed. What an incredible young man who, at 11, has more class and dignity than all of his many online detractors combined.

Beautifully, he was asked to sing again at Thursday’s game. What a statement!

Comedian Steve Martin long ago joked about criticizing things you don’t know about. Today, it’s a way of life for a sad many people.

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Sure it was a mean comment, but don't blame the internet. The internet gives exposure to many ideas and gives everyone a forum to voice their concerns, musings, anger and humor. It's a tool, not an Oprah feel good book. Ignorance and hatred on the internet are balanced by wisdom and kindness, EXACTLY as in other media and life in general.

I suspect from the way traditional media types complain about the internet and say those commenting often know little, there is a hint of jealousy that their ink by the barrel power is leaking to everyone. Commentary stands or falls on its merit no matter if it is written in electronic blips, black ink or in an anonymous pamphlet in 1775.

Mr. Lacey's comments were totally off base and mean-spirited; directed at a child made them even more so, but let's be honest about the culture we now live in. It's one where coarse and caustic comments made in the public square are treated with applause.

Mr. Lacey is responsible for his tweet no matter what others do, and he did apologize, but he is in good company, unfortunately. Look at the bashing of Hispanics that goes on in the political arena. Is it any wonder he and others may have thought that these rude comments would find welcoming arms?

Even in this electronic forum with policing by Sean it is not difficult to discern the disdain and loathing that many have for their fellow man. The difference is that many are quite good at veiling their comments in a context that makes it difficult to call them out.

What Mr. Lacey did was not the brightest thing, but RACIST! Mr Lacey appears to be a black man in the pictures and I was under the impression that only white people could be racist. Let's make sure we understand the meaning of two words: "racist" and "racial". Too many times people scream ''racist" when it is really ''racial".

So many news outlets, so many people have let their language get the better of them. What I am referring to is the incorrect usage of the word "racism." To get back on track, we must acknowledge that "Hispanic" is not a race. Hispanic is a term that describes regional origin. Mexicans, Guatemalans, Salvadorans, Dominicans, Cubans, etc. do not constitute a race. Therefore, Mr. Lacey's comments were not racist comments. I urge the ACES to get out of the mire of incorrect usage of the terms "race" and "racist." Be precise in your use of language.

Yet people like Reverend Wright of Obama fame is still preaching hate against whites and you don't hear much about that. So it's not like discrimination is bad-you can have disdain for white Christians apparently. But other groups appear to be off limits in political correct terms. People hate a lot of things-appears to be part of our biology. You aren't going to change peoples minds you have to change their hearts. Once people get their heads around there is no "race" then maybe things will advance (there are various gene pools and populations but they do no correlate with any particular race or skin color)-there are ethnicities and cultures.

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Got to disagree. Racist and racial mean pretty much the same thing in most cases. The problem is, too many left leaning Americans have corrupted and confused the word racist by applying it to situations that call for the word bigot, if they must be labeled at all.

Calling someone a bigot though, does not carry the same political implication or stigma that the word racist does.

Hence, the use of "racist" has become the "go to" phrase when liberals or others who are intellectually lazy, want to hurt someone politically.

Pretty much the same as calling someone on a "power trip" or someone who is a control freak a Nazi. Not really a difference in the approach.

. . . the use of "racist" has become the "go to" phrase when liberals or others who are intellectually lazy, want to hurt someone politically.

No, Mr. Lacey’s tweet was not racist at all. He was talking about “lookin (sic) like an illegal immigrant.” We have illegal immigrants here from all races, creeds, national origins. Mr. Lacey's comment, as Darby was trying to get at, was bigoted, not racist.

The people on the Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff cannot even accurately determine what race the boy who sang the National Anthem considers himself to be. As I said up above, “Hispanic” is not a race. You need to look beyond it.

While Mr. Lacey's comments were moronic they weren't nearly as bad as what David Letterman said about Sarah Palin's daughter yet I don't recall the uproar of anyone calling him a pedophile. I also don't remember anyone coming to the defense of the innocent men Tawana Bradley and Al Sharpton crucified in the press and I also don't recall anyone bringing up the fact that Jessie Jackson admited he spit in white people's food and also got a pass on the hymietown comment. It's a everyday occurrence...

How interesting that the Chronicle would speak out against the ability for folks to be able to post their words of negativity for the world to see. It supports these forums where people do not always engage in healthy, logical, and respectful discussions but rather make inferences from literally 2 sentence articles, cry out for severe consequences for even the most minor crime, and engage in name-calling, race/religion bashing, and other classless behavior. Just because you can say it doesn't mean you should. Just because sites like the Huff Post or other international forums encourage such posts doesn't mean we have to stoop as low, but it still happens here on the AC site. Pretty ironic.

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Forgive me for being dense, if that's what's happening here, but I fail to see the irony.

What I see here is exactly what I believe any normal person would expect to see, given the nature of the topics, the almost always diametrically opposite positions that always hold sway and the brief time and space to address the issues.

It is one thing to allow reasonable discussion amongst adults where "diametrically opposite positions" are presented and respected. If this was occurring I would support the AC's opinion. However, "any normal person" can see that this does not occur on a regular basis on this forum. Refer back to my original post.